Only stating the obvious

Maharashtra police and the administration interpret the laws the way it suits them or their political masters.

When Bal Thackeray died, the government promptly announced that he would be given a state funeral.

Much noise is being made about Shaheen Dhada, a 21-year-old girl who questioned in her Facebook post about the need for the city to be shut for the death of one man.

No matter what one says in defence of the girl, she would appear to be insane and should be considered for a mental asylum without delay.

After all, which person in her senses would dare to write such in a thing in a state like Maharashtra, which while physically still a part of India has long stopped obeying the laws of the country or following the constitution?

In fact the state's police and the administration interpret the laws the way it suits them or their political masters.

So, after a 500-strong mob of Shiv Sainiks marched to the Palghar police station demanding that the cops take action on the girl, the police not only detained her after 6pm but kept the two girls till 2.45 am.

The local police detained the two women for questioning the bandh after Bal Thackeray's demise.

Obviously the Mumbai's cops do not believe in section 46(4) of CrPC, which says that a female accused can be arrested only after sunrise and not before. What is worse is after questioning the girls till 2.45am they again landed up at the girl's house at 7am for further questioning.

Now, the best part- the Sainiks who ransacked the clinic belonging to Shaheen's uncle and even allegedly cut off the saline drips of the patients admitted in the hospital were not arrested till Tuesday, when a public outcry forced the cops to arrest ten people.

Of course, the police simply cannot be blamed because they are only following what their political masters are themselves doing- bending backwards for the Sena.

So when Bal Thackeray died, the government promptly announced that he would be given a state funeral. The decision could at best be dubbed as ironical, because the Congress-NCP government had always claimed that Thackeray was communal and had even foisted many cases against him in this regard.

Then, when the Sena asked for a public cremation, the government permitted it. Having been granted that, the Sena is now demanding a memorial at Shivaji Park, a ground which is used by many budding cricketers.

The government again promised that it would consider the demand seriously. The message that the government is sending obviously trickles down, which could explain why many households in the city saw that their TVs didn't show any entertainment programmes on the day Thackeray was being cremated.

Apparently cable operators in the city decided to yank off the programmes as a 'sign of respect' for the Sena chief.

So it would be foolish to expect the lowly paid police officer to bear the pressure of a 500-strong mob of Sainiks, if the state's chief minister and the Cabinet cannot bear the pressure of 5 lakh Sainiks.

It would also be silly to expect the rule of law in a state where the country's constitution is nothing but a 12 letter word which is to be used according to the whims and fancies of whoever is reading the law.

Dhada's parents should have her treated in an asylum or better yet - move to another state.

The BJP's life after Gadkari

Nitin Gadkari.

Bharatiya Janata Party Chief Nitin Gadkari has resigned, after facing months of criticism from both Congress and BJP leaders themselves for questionable investments in his Purti group, Gadkari has finally put in his papers.

The new BJP chief is however also from Maharashtra and is in fact from Nagpur, the RSS (oops sorry, the RSS doesn't take decisions for the saffron party). The BJP has announced it is Manohar Panse... Panse - who? Panse is Gadkari's driver.

The RSS apparently has zeroed in on Panse as he is not related to any other factions in the BJP like the Advani or Modi faction but is only close to the RSS faction.

Anyway, the RSS hopes that Panse can run the BJP without any controversies just as the companies that he is heading are investing in Purti without any financial activity.

Of course RSS ideologue and economist S Gurumurthy believes otherwise (no, he is in agreement with the RSS on its latest choice). He, however, sees perfect business sense in how Panse and others are investing in Purti without having any business activity.

Still, the RSS is facing tough competition as Panse is also being approached by many multinational companies, banks, for his unique ability. Rumours even suggest China is interested in him.

Apparently they want to make more clones like Panse, in their country. IT officials, however, have said that India has nothing to worry in this respect as Panse clones are already present in abundance with many politicians in India.

Uddhav keeps the army calm

Uddhav Thackeray.

Over the years, Shiv Sena executive president Uddhav Thackeray has been slammed by a number of critics, often for not being aggressive or charismatic enough to lead the Sena. His work keeping the Sainiks in check after Bal Thackeray's death should, however, be applauded.

There were concerns because Mumbai's sister city Thane had gone up in flames after Sena leader Anand Dighe died in the 90s, with Sainiks vandalising the hospital, attacking the media and destroying cars.

In fact the Sainiks went on such a rampage that they even had the decorations in Ganesh pandals forcibly taken down after the news of Dighes' death broke out.

The possibility of violence during Thackeray's last journey was a reality which is why Uddhav and other Sena leaders kept on constantly appealing to the people to not sully the image of his father by indulging in violence.

Mindful of the much bigger legacy of Bal Thackeray, Uddhav and the middlerung Sena leadership ensured that the message went out that the Sainiks- who had camped outside Matoshree- should keep their cool.

Uddhav himself made repeated appeals asking people not to indulge in any violence, and should be commended for keeping the crowd in check.

Once an energy-surplus state, Maharashtra has been facing a severe shortage for over a decade now, and the government's promise of no load-shedding by December is unlikely to be borne out- especially since inadequate rainfall has many powerplants at risk of closure. The Congress-NCP government, which had hoped to fulfil at least one of its promises, might keep this one by buying power, but if the expense is passed on to the consumers it would defeat the purpose.